The NBA, in addition to being a worldwide basketball industry, also moonlights as a consumer watchdog.

According to The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, the league took a hard look at Smoothie King, the new sponsor of the New Orleans Pelicans' arena, before any deal was completed. As part of the process, the company's products were tested. Some were found to contain banned substances, including DHEA and androstenedione (the stuff Mark McGwire took 15 or so years ago).

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The NBA had announced that Smoothie Kings products would be scrutinized well before the naming rights deal was confirmed. In addition to testing for banned substances, they also required that the labels on every product sold in a Smoothie King franchise was accurate, ensuring that what Smoothie King says is in a Passion Passport smoothie is, in fact, in it.

Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim, who purchased the company from founder Steve Kuhnau in July 2012, said the NBA wanted to make sure its athletes could eat and drink Smoothie King products and still pass the association's mandatory drug tests.

"Say we become the official smoothie of the NBA," Kim said. "If a player consumes one of our products and then fails the drug test, he could go to the NBA and say, 'Hey, what's going on?' All of a sudden it's the NBA's fault."

Rocky Gettys, the company's vice president of product development, told The Times-Picayune the substances were found in nutritional supplements the company sold.

UPDATE: Gettys also said, "Our menu of smoothies was not impacted at all."